Winners of national aged care awards announced

Last Updated: 09-08-2016

 A QLD sub-acute care program that piloted a program to better manage clinical deterioration in residents, an organisation that launched health and wellness centres in SA and NT, and a Victorian aged care professional who pioneered better wound Read More...

Advanced Practice Nursing: A level in its own right

Last Updated: 04-08-2016

A summit of Australian nursing leaders was recently held in Melbourne to discuss the future of advanced practice nursing. The attendees included officers and representatives from leading colleges, regulatory bodies, chief nursing and midwifery off Read More...

Jobs forecast in nursing, midwifery and allied health

Last Updated: 04-08-2016

A review of New Zealand’s health workforce points to job opportunities for midwives in rural areas, nurses in advanced practice areas and demand for sonographers and MRI technicians. The Health Workforce New Zealand report, Health of the Hea Read More...

Strengthening Clinician Engagement Conference 29th - 30th July

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Strategies to drive performance, safety & quality 29th & 30th July 2015, Mercure Sydney [subscribe] Today’s clinical standards in the health care sector are changing rapidly which has triggered budgets to tighten up throughout hospit Read More...

Education gets clinical exercise physiology moving

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

A new specialised exercise rehabilitation clinic is working to strengthen New Zealand’s emerging clinical exercise physiology profession. More than 30 Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) Bachelor and Postgraduate Diploma of Sport and Ex Read More...

Paramedics, nurses and midwives apply for nanny program

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

It’s no easy feat being shift-working parents - just ask Neil and Valerie Noble. The Cairns paramedics and parents of Matthew, aged 7, and Courtney, 11, often face the work-life juggle of finding carers for their children when their work ros Read More...

Food for thought - a healthy diet could save someone from losing vision

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

This year, Macular Degeneration Awareness Week is 22-28 May. Experts advise that, while there is no cure, the key to avoiding blindness may be found in the refrigerator. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 60 ye Read More...

Aussies unite for first ever Big Aussie Hearing Check

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

With Hearing Awareness Week (23 – 29 August 2015) just around the corner, Australian Hearing is rallying the country, to come together on one special day and prioritise their hearing, as part of the first ever, nation-wide Big Aussie Hearing Ch Read More...

Training midwives to tackle domestic violence

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

New research could pave the way for Australian midwives to receive training to address domestic violence in pregnancy. Statistics show 30 per cent of domestic violence incidents occur when women are pregnant, while domestic violence is also a prim Read More...

Labor pledges nurse to patient ratios for Queensland

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Queensland will legislate nurse to patient ratios under a Labor state government. Opposition leader Annastacia Palaszczuk has pledged to legislate safe patient ratios in public hospitals if Labor wins the January 31 election.[subscribe] Under i Read More...

Labor pledges to legislate nurse to patient ratios

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Victoria could become the first state in Australia to enshrine nurse to patient ratios in legislation. Opposition leader Daniel Andrews has pledged to legislate safe patient ratios if Labor wins the November 29 state election.[subscribe] Nurse Read More...

Scheme attracts nurses and midwives to rural areas

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Graduate nurses, midwives, sonographers and specialists are continuing to be attracted to rural and other hard-to-staff communities in New Zealand. Registrations for the 2015 intake of the nation’s Voluntary Bonding Scheme, the seventh intak Read More...

Women, Children and Cardiovascular Disease

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Cardiovascular disease kills an estimated 17.3 million people worldwide each year including over 45,000 Australians. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease include smoking, lack of exercise and poor diet. People may also be predisposed to heart dise Read More...

Do men need to exercise harder than women to prevent stroke?

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Michelle McDonnell, University of South Australia Emerging evidence suggests physical activity is a good means of preventing a stroke. In the event that someone who regularly exercises does have a stroke, they are likely to have a less severe Read More...

Pharmacists rate high in customer satisfaction

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Pharmacists have received top marks in yet another public poll - this time for customer satisfaction. The Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards reveal Australia’s big-name chain pharmacies have received satisfaction ratings ranging from 85 Read More...

Physiotherapist debunks concussion myths

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Players and professional athletes should be removed from play after receiving a head-injury on the sporting field amid estimates only 10 per cent of concussions result in unconsciousness, according to an Australian physiotherapy researcher. Profes Read More...

Physiotherapist paves the way in mental health

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Seventeen years ago, Kevin Lau had a few reservations about working as a physiotherapist in the mental health field. Today, as the head of the physiotherapy department at a large psychiatric hospital in Western Australia, he wouldn’t have it Read More...

Physiotherapists tackle obesity

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Physiotherapists are playing a pivotal role in working to trim the nation’s expanding waistlines. As experts in physical activity, weight management, heart disease and diabetes prevention, physiotherapists are increasingly treating patients Read More...

Older people with depression more likely to fall

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Allied health professionals and nurses should treat depressive symptoms in older people with a combination of physical exercise and psychosocial therapies, according to new research. The message comes after Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) Read More...

Walk with midwives to raise funds for Indigenous midwifery students

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Midwives for a better tomorrow. That’s the theme of this year’s International Day of the Midwife (IDM), established by the International Confederation of Midwives, and held around the globe each year on May 5.[subscribe] The Austral Read More...

Do we crave the food our bodies need?

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Vincent Ho, Western Sydney University Food craving is an intense desire to consume a particular food that is difficult to resist. This is different from hunger, as consumption of any number of foods satisfies hunger. Food cravings are very Read More...

Male nurses earn more than female nurses

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Male nurses are earning an average of $5100 more a year than female nurses despite working in a female-dominated profession, according to new research to come out of the United States. A study of 290,000 registered nurses spanning 25 years, publis Read More...

Mental health nurses excluded from expert group

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

First it was nurses, midwives and nurse practitioners being excluded from the federal government’s two key health reform groups, now mental health nurses have also been overlooked. Mental health nurses, the largest part of the health care wo Read More...

Country kids face twice as many tooth fillings as city cousins

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

A new research report just released by the Royal Flying Doctor Service shines a spotlight on oral health for country Australians. Oral health and dental care access disparities between the city and the bush include: • Childhood cavities are 5 Read More...

Paramedics pledge to campaign against government

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Victorian paramedics have vowed to actively campaign against the state government in the lead up to this month’s election. Ambulance Employees Association Victoria (AEAV) and the Coalition have failed to come to an agreement over wages and c Read More...

Aussie health professionals sign up for Ebola response

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

More than a thousand health professionals have applied to join the Australian Government’s response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Health care provider Aspen Medical, which is coordinating the provision of a 100-bed Ebola Treatment Un Read More...

Waikato topples hospital fall rates

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Orange non-slip socks, sensor mats and Invisa-Beams are working to reduce falls at Waikato District Health Board (DHB). The measures are part of a range of initiatives credited for reducing falls by 41 per cent at the DHB in the past four years.[s Read More...

Research points to patient safety in nurse numbers

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

International research shows nurse staffing levels contribute to a seven-fold difference in patient mortality rates between hospitals. Patient safety researcher Dr Linda Aiken, a keynote speaker at today’s Queensland Nurses’ Union&rsqu Read More...

Reforms needed to improve end-of-life care

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Vital reforms to end-of-life care are essential to assist the majority of Australians who want to die ‘a good death’ at home. A Grattan Institute perspective published in the Medical Journal of Australia, based on its earlier Dying Wel Read More...

Big data can improve health but first we need to build the foundations

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Julian Elliott, Cochrane “What if we, as government, got out of the way and gave consumers full access to their own personalised health data and full control over how they choose to use it?” Health Minister Sussan Ley asked in her Read More...

Virtual learning puts pharmacy students in the picture

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Pharmacy students are stepping into virtual hospital and community pharmacies through an innovative training room. The new interactive teaching tool at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus projects high-definition panoramic interactive im Read More...

Nutrition experts shine spotlight on research

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Eating to reduce cancer risk and the latest evidence on nutritional management for cancer patients will be some of the hot topics at next week’s Nutrition Society of Australia (NSA) national conference in Tasmania. More than 300 delegates, i Read More...

Cravings don't come back when you 'tap'

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Landmark research has found unhealthy food cravings can be significantly reduced in just eight weeks by a new online program teaching 'psychological acupuncture' techniques to people struggling with their weight. The findings from Bond Uni Read More...

Canberra trials publicly-funded home births

Last Updated: 02-08-2016

Canberra women will soon have the option of a publicly-funded home birth. The ACT Health Publicly Funded Homebirth Service will provide one to two home births a month, or up to 24 a year, for low-risk pregnant women who live within a 30 minute rad Read More...

Women planning pregnancy urged to consider BMI

Last Updated: 28-07-2016

Women are being encouraged to ensure their body mass index (BMI) is within a healthy range before pregnancy to ensure the best outcomes for their babies. A new study by University of Queensland researchers has shown that BMI prior to conception co Read More...

Headache sufferers asked to undertake self help treatment

Date of Posting: 27-07-2016

Headache and migraine sufferers are being asked to self manage their own treatment as part of new research at Griffith University. Headache disorders are among the most common disorders of the nervous system, causing substantial disability in popu Read More...

First whole genome testing service launches in Australia

Last Updated: 27-07-2016

The Garvan Institute of Medical Research’s Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics will launch Australia’s first clinical whole-genome sequencing service at an event today in Sydney. This new service could triple the diagnosis rates for Aus Read More...

Blood pressure targets - what does the new guideline say and how low should you go?

Date of Posting: 26-07-2016

Brett Montgomery, University of Western Australia This week, the Heart Foundation launched new national guidelines on the management of high blood pressure (hypertension). There are several changes since the last edition, but the one making he Read More...

Teenage pain often dismissed as 'growing pains', but it can impact their lives

Last Updated: 26-07-2016

Christopher Williams, University of Newcastle and Steve Kamper, University of Sydney Most of us know someone who has “a bad back”. Research tells us up to 70% of people will experience back pain at some stage during their lives. Bu Read More...

Protein insights to help find heart disease cure

Date of Posting: 26-07-2016

Research led by The Australian National University (ANU) has uncovered new insights into how the human genome gets through the daily grind with the help of RNA-binding proteins, in a discovery which could ultimately lead to a cure for heart disease. Read More...